It is indeed justly fitting that Clemens Krauss' authorative Strauss series
is now available in magnificently remastered sound on Testament. The early
Decca recordings were always a model of clarity, Cyrill Windebank and his
peerless team managed to secure a marvelously rich sound from the cavernous
acoustics of the Musikvereinsaal. The reissue of these tapes on low cut Decca
Eclipse LPs was their last incarnation and they now make a triumphant
reappearance after over twenty years of unjust neglect.

Krauss' credentials as a superb Straussian are forever in evidence and with
such illustrious principals as Ernst Moraweg, Pierre Fournier and his magnificent
leader, Willi Boskovsky then the whole project takes on an air of invincibility.
'Ein Heldenleben' blazes forth with humanity and triumph, cataclasymic fights
with critics and solemn resignation have never sounded so wondrously evocative,
perhaps only Kempe equals Krauss for ultimate nobility. And even if the limited
resources of 1950 recordings put the opening of 'Also sprach Zarathustra'
slightly in the shade there is no denying the visceral excitement that Krauss
conjures throughout this epic traversal of Nietztshe. The symphonic poem
'Aus Italien' is also aristocratically done, here the rhythmic inflexions
of Strauss's Latin invecture is wonderfully alive throughout. I especially
enjoyed the breathtaking Finale with all Italian folk elements coming quite
brilliantly to the fore. The 'Salome' excerpts are also brilliantly done
with Christel Goltz a Salome in the Nilsson mode, her final monologue is
quite devastating throughout.

Another great interpretation is the 'Sinfonia Domestica'. Here Krauss is
completely at one with the composer's wishes viz-a-vis tempi and the general
pulse behind the music which comes the fore in all its colourful glory in
the roudingly bombastic Finale where all mayhem really breaks loose amongst
the family! This excellently recorded version can count to be as one of the
most successful of them all alongside Karajan's classic 1973 BPO account.
The accompanying 'Borgeois Gentilhomme' is mildly played and is as exquisite
as ever, showing off the qualities of those still fabled post war VPO strings.

The final disc under review includes Fournier and Moraweg in a classic 'Don
Quixote' that is also a front runner. The music moves along with untoward
nobility and the descriptive pages of the lifelike score come to life in
a startlingly realistic way. The aristocratic playing of these two artists
is matched by the exemplary leading of Willi Boskovsky. The accompanying
'Till' and 'Don Juan' are dashingly brilliant although at the end slightly
uneventful, there is no perfection of characterization that appears so readily
with Kempe and Karajan. It is a pity that there is no 'Tod und Verklarung'
but the whole collection of four discs is quite superbly remastered and on
all counts is a major re-release in the Strauss discography that cannot afford
to go unnoticed. A copious and informative essay by Mike Ashman accompanies
all four booklets with short but effective descriptions of the works featured.